Chapter Twenty-Four

It was long past noon when Kaid finally woke. He hadn’t thought sleep would be possible with all the worry thumping around in his mind. In fact, his eyes were heavy with want of more.

Donnan was crouched beside him, staring at the castle.

Something skittered past Kaid several feet away from where he slept. He cut a questioning look at Donnan who nodded for him to rise.

Kaid sat upright and turned toward the castle as another stone skipped through the forest, missing them by far.

Lady Elizabeth’s maid, the woman with bright copper hair, stood near the fence, her gaze intent on the foliage around them. She shot a reassuring glance behind her before hurling another stone in their direction.

It was obvious she knew of their presence in the forest, but not their exact location.

Perhaps she had seen them before and wanted to lure them out.

But why?

The woman stepped toward the fence where several slats were missing. After another cursory glance at the garden behind her, she spoke in a low voice: “I know Delilah.”

Hearing Delilah’s name was all the confirmation Kaid needed. He and Donnan rushed to the edge of the fence and crouched at the perimeter, hiding as best they could.

“Where is Delilah? How is she?” Kaid couldn’t stop the questions from tumbling from his mouth.

The woman knelt on the ground before several flowers and pulled a pair of large shears from a basket at her side. Her gray gaze settled on him, her expression shrewd. “There was supposed to be only one of you.”

“I’m Donnan,” Donnan offered in introduction. “This is Laird MacLeod. He came out of worry for the lasses.”

The woman looked between the two of them before finally nodding. “Very well. I’m Liv and have been working with Delilah for years.” She glanced over her shoulder once more. “She’s been found out. They don’t know she was working with Elizabeth’s father and assume she was working with you.” She pinched the delicate stem of a large yellow flower and snipped its base. “Not that she should be working with you in the first place.”

Kaid ignored the comment. “Where is she now?”

“In the dungeon.” She snipped another flower. “With Torra.”

Kaid’s heartbeat pounded harder in his chest.

Torra was still alive, and Delilah had found her.

“We have to use any means necessary to get them free,” Kaid said.

Liv selected another flower and nodded without looking at him. “I’m already coordinating with Delilah to get them out. When that happens, she will need to see a woman in Killearnan.”

“What can I do to help ye get them out?” Kaid asked.

She slid him an icy glare. “I think you’ve done enough already. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.”

Her words hit him like a slap.

“You’ve put every one of us in danger.” She snatched up the basket and rose so abruptly one of the flowers fell to the ground. “Tonight. Wait for them to be freed a little past midnight.”

Without another word, she turned and left. The abandoned yellow bloom lay on its side, the fragile petals cradled in the long grass.

She was right, of course. He had put everyone in danger. But he’d also seen no other way.

“Well, she seems nice.” Donnan gave a wide smile.

The familiar gesture couldn’t even draw a smirk from Kaid’s lips.

“I’ll make this right.” Kaid spoke with vehemence.

Donnan’s expression didn’t fade. “Ye’ve no’ done anything wrong. The lasses made their own decision, and we’ll get them to safety tonight.”

The most treacherous part would be getting them from the dungeon to the forest. Then again, getting them through the forest wouldn’t be easy either. While there weren’t as many guards at night as Kaid had initially assumed there might be, it only took one seeing them to ruin everything.

Kaid’s palms prickled with sweat, and he had to focus on his breathing to keep it steady.

This was not Ardvreck.

This was not that day in the village where everyone had been slaughtered.

There would not be so much blood.

The forest seemed to blur in front of him.

Kaid closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, the world had stopped whirling.

His breath came easier, and his mind was clearer.

“No matter what, we’ll get them free,” Kaid promised.

And he meant every damn word.

• • •

It’s time.

Delilah’s heart leapt at the words gracefully curling over the slip of parchment. She bent and stroked Fianna’s glossy back. The cat arched her body and curled her tail toward Delilah’s fingers.

An emphatic purr filled the air and made Torra clasp her hands in delight. While Torra refused to pet Fianna, she took great pleasure in the cat’s recurring visits.

Delilah sat beside Torra on the sad little bed. “Torra,” she said. “We’re going to be leaving.”

The woman’s eyes went wide.

“You’re going to be free,” Delilah whispered. Her skin prickled with the eagerness to liberate Torra from her confined hell.

But it was not gratitude so plainly visible on Torra’s face—it was fear.

She shook her head emphatically. “No. No. No. No. No. No.”

Delilah glanced toward the cell door to ensure no guards were nearby. “Shh, Torra. It’s a secret.”

“I can’t leave.” Torra’s voice pitched in a wail. “I’m no’ allowed to.”

“It’s only for a bit of time,” Delilah said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone.

Leasa knelt at the woman’s side. “I’m scared too, but if we stay together, it’ll make us braver.”

Torra pursed her lips and grasped Leasa’s hand with both of hers. Black showed around Torra’s nails, but Leasa did not appear to care.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Delilah’s body tensed, every muscle tight.

It was time.

Delilah watched the door to their cell and removed her daggers. The one from her bodice, she gave to Leasa. The one hidden in the hollow sole of her shoe, she twisted free and passed to Torra. “To make you feel safer,” Delilah offered. Torra finally removed one of her hands from Leasa’s and took the blade with a tentative nod.

Delilah recovered the final dagger, the largest and most wicked of the three, from where it was strapped to her thigh.

Torra watched her with large eyes. “Where else have ye got those things stashed?”

Delilah winked at her. “Just know I’ll not let anything happen to you.”

The tension in Torra’s shoulders seemed to relax, and she shared a trusting nod with Leasa.

A quiet rustle sounded outside their cell, like a sack of flour falling to the floor.

Or a body.

Delilah slipped the pin from her hair and made her way to the cell door. She unfolded the lock pick from where it lay against the hairpin and made quick work of the lock. The door creaked open to freedom.

The hallway was silent and dark.

Delilah motioned to the other two ladies to remain in place before she crept out into the hallway.

Liv was crouched beside the body of an unconscious man, holding a length of rope. Fianna hopped gracefully atop the man’s slumped back before bounding toward Delilah.

“Is anyone there?” Delilah whispered.

Liv shook her head.

Delilah motioned for the other two women to come forward. They moved as one, their hands each clasping one another as well as a dagger.

If nothing else, they would be able to defend themselves. Though Delilah truly hoped it would not come to that.

They stalked up the dungeon stairs in a silent group. All four guards who had been stationed there lay unconscious on the ground, bound with a secure rope.

Their sleep was too deep, and Delilah knew Liv must have given them the sleeping draught Percy had concocted. It left the person hazy when they awoke and uncertain about the minutes leading up to their unconsciousness.

It allowed the women to remain anonymous without having to take lives.

Liv led them to the right rather than the left when they reached the next floor. Escape was so close, Delilah could almost smell the wet, sweet air of the overgrown garden.

They were halfway down the hallway when the baritone of multiple voices and the heavy tread of boots echoed around them. One of the women behind Delilah sucked in a gasp.

Delilah turned to them and indicated they remain quiet. The two nodded in unison.

“Go on ahead,” Liv whispered. “I’ll distract them.” She didn’t wait for a reply before slipping down the hallway toward the sound of the men.

All the women who worked together under Sylvi were experienced and confident enough that they could each handle her own.

Liv would be fine.

Delilah motioned for the other two to slip into the shadows of an alcove.

“I can’t find where the kitchen is.” Liv’s smooth Gaelic sounded in the distance. “Could you help?”

Someone said something indiscernible and Liv gave a giggle.

They were sufficiently distracted.

Delilah led the women to the door leading out to the garden. Her heart tripped a frantic beat.

Had Liv not been there to distract the men, they might have been caught. Even now, they still could be.

They were so close to freedom that it made her skin prickle with the prospect.

She pushed against the door and found it open, Liv having already picked the lock in anticipation of their escape.

Delilah charged into the garden and held the door for the other two, whose movements were more hesitant.

Torra stopped and stared up at the sky where the moon shone bright upon them. She drew a shaky gasp and pulled Leasa closer to her. “It’s beautiful,” she said in a choked whisper.

Delilah let the door slip closed with great care to ensure it remained silent.

Something hard gripped the back of her neck and squeezed.

Delilah’s body acted on instinct, grasping blindly for her assailant while she ducked her body forward and sent him sprawling over her.

One of the women gave a sharp squeak while another shushed.

The man looked up at Delilah in shock before her elbow came down hard on his temple. She didn’t have any rope to tie him with, but the draught tucked in her waistband would work nonetheless.

After quickly dumping the contents into his mouth, she gathered the other two women against her with Leasa at her left and Torra at her right. Together, the three of them ran toward the fence at the forest.

Donnan would be waiting for them. Freedom would be waiting for them.

But it was not just Donnan’s face which emerged from the shadows of the trees. Another man stood beside him, his skin had been darkened like Donnan’s to aid in making him invisible within the forest.

Perhaps that was why it took her a moment before she recognized the man in one pulse-pounding second.

Kaid.